NASA Recycles Former ISS Module for Life Support Research

NASA's former ISS habitation module is lowered into a cradle at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, where engineers will connect with two test modules for life support research.Credit: NASA/MSFC.

A module
once destined to house astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS)
has found a new purpose as a test bed for future life support systems.

Engineers at
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in
Huntsville, Alabama are refitting a cylindrical common module originally slated
as a space station habitation compartment for use in developing improved life
support systems for current and future spacecraft.

"We're
primarily involved in regenerative air and water systems development for the
space station," said Robyn Carrasquillo, NASA's
engineering manager for Environmental Control and Life Support Systems at MSFC,
in a telephone interview.

The 8,500-pound (3,855-kilogram) common
module was not yet modified to suit astronaut housing needs aboard the ISS due
to budget constraints that led station planners to pull
the habitation module from the launch manifest, NASA officials added.

The 29-foot (8.8-meter) long, 16-foot (4.8-meter) wide module
will be connected to two others at MSFC that were designed specifically for
life support system research. Engineers use one existing module to study
wastewater collection, while the other is filled with treadmills and hygiene
equipment similar to that aboard the ISS, Carrasquillo said.

"We take
the humidity from condensation and sweat we generate and test our water
system," she added.

The mock
space station allows engineers to simulate the atmosphere inside a spacecraft
in which life support systems must function. Engineers can inject
contaminants into the air or water supplies and study how different systems
react, Carrasquillo said.

The modules
can also help NASA engineers derive more efficient environmental control
systems for future spacecraft, such as the planned Crew Exploration Vehicle
(CEV) and others destined for long-duration missions.

"Right now,
we're developing a candidate air system for the CEV and we'll be looking ahead
to lunar base technology that will hopefully close the loop even further,"
Robyn Carrasquillo, NASA's engineering manager for
Environmental Control and Life Support Systems at MSFC, in a telephone
interview. "Our goal is to completely close the air and water loops."